Bag making machine



y 1965 A. GRKFINGHOLT ETAL 3,192,683

BAG MAKING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 6, 1962 aw WM mm E mo RBN9 N at July 6, 1965 A. GRAFINGHO'LT ETAL 3,192,583

BAG MAKING MACHINE Filed April 6, 1962 8 Sheets-Sheet 2 July 6, 1965 BAGMAKING MACHINE 8 Sheets-Sheet 3 Filed April 6. 1962 FIG. 6

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BAG MAKING MACHINE Filed Apfil a, 1962 8 Sheets-Sheet s July 6, 1965 A.GRAFINGHOLT ETAL BAG MAKING MACHINE a Sheets-Sheet 7 Filed April 6,1962' llwewrqgrs ALFRED GRAFl/VGHOLT 90001.. ERANSTNEI? 8 Sheets-Sheet 8FIG. 13

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July 6, 1965 Filed Apri l 6, 1962 United States Patent ()fifice3,192,683 Patented July 6, 1965 3,192,683 BAG MAKING MAE AlfredGriifingholt, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, and Rudolf Branstner, Fellsbach,Wurtternherg, Germany, assignors to Fr. HesserMaschinenfabrik-Aktiengesellschaft, Stuttgart-Bad Cannstatt, Germany, acorporation of Germany Filed Apr. 6, 1962, Ser. No. 185,673 Claimspriority, appiication Germany, Apr. 12, 1961, H 42,276 17 Ciaims. (El.53-134) This invention relates to a machine for manufacturing bags, forexample infusion bags, with a folded bottom, from a web of material suchas paper or the like, and also for filling these bags on a filling wheelwhich rotates intermittently.

An object of the present invention is a machine of this kind in whichbags with different kinds of folding can be made without substantialmodification of the machine, for example bags with simple bottom fold,bags with a pleated or gussetted bottom, and double-compartment bags.

In known machines for manufacturing bottom-folded bags, a web of parentmaterial is generally introduced in V- or iv-formation and a lengthrepresenting the width of the bag to be produced is cut oif, transversesealing seams having previously been applied along the lines of ultimateseparation. Bags made in this way have to be transferred to a conveyorwheel equipped with retaining grippers, or to a conveyor chain, forfilling purposes and must also be passed to a filling and closingdevice.

In contrast to this, one embodiment of a machine according to thepresent invention comprises a feed wheel which is rotatable about ahorizontal axis and has a plurality of gripper devices arranged aroundthe periphery thereof, means for feeding a continuous web of parentstock, for example paper, from a supply to said feed wheel, anoscillating folder associated with said feed wheel, means forintermittently rotating said feed wheel to bring the gripper devicethereof in turn into a position for cooperation with said folder, meansfor separating successive blanks from said web to release them in turnfor engagement between the folder and the cooperating gripper forfoldingeach blank transversely between its r end and providing it with a V- orW-section bottom folding, a filling wheel rotatable about a verticalaxis and havingradial bag compartments, means for transferring thebottom-folded blanks in turn from said feed wheel into said compartmentsmouth uppermost, and means for filling the bags in the compartments.

As will be explained below it is possible, using a maminormodifications, alternatively to produce bags with V-, or W-form bottomfolding, with. or without longitudinal folds, or double compartment bagsif tubular stock is fed in.

A preferred embodiment of the invention is explained below in referenceto the accompanying diagrammatic chine according to the presentinvention and with only 7 FIGURE 7 is a frontal view of an installationfor the formation of small bags as per FIGURE 4;

FIGURE 8 is a side view of a holding clamp in enlarged scale;

FIGURE 9 is a cross sectional view in the plane lXlX of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 10 is a cross sectional view in the plane XX of FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 11 is a hot sealing device cross sectional View in the plane XIXIof FIGURE 7;

FIGURE 12 is a plan view of a filling installation with cross sectionsin various plane; and

FIGURE 13 is a partial cross sectional view of a filling station.

A brief description is first given of the whole machine with referenceto FIGURE 1, after which the complete machine is described in detail.

In the machine illustratedin FIGURE 1, the material from which the bagsare to be fabricated is continuously withdrawn as a web 1 from a supplyreel 2 over diverting or guide rollers 3, 4, by means of a pair of drawrolls 5, 6. After passing the latter, the web is intermittentlyforwarded, one bag blank length at a time, by means of an intermittentlyrotated pair of format rollers '7, 8 and the slack is taken up by aswinging or pendulum roller 9. The pair of format rollers 7, 8 conveysthe end of the web vertically downwards to a star-form feed wheel 10which has a retaining gripper 12 on each of its radial arms and ismounted for rotation about a horizontal axis, being intermittentlyoperated.

the retaining gripper 12- that stands ready, and a bag blank is at thistime severed from the leading end of web 1 by means of a cutter device13, 14. Immediately after the severing out is made, a pivoted slide 15pushes the opposed part of the bag blank into the mouth of the retaininggripper 12 of the wheel 10 which is standing ready for it, the blankthereby being transversely folded midway between its ends. This folding,which subsequently represents the bottom of the bag, may be in V- or aW-shape depending on the construction of the slide 15 and the mouth ofgripper 12.

As the feed wheel It? is then turned again in a counterclockwisedirection the free, trailing leaves of the blank held in this way areturned over in the longitudinal direction of the mouth of the grippers,i.e. tangentially to the periphery of the feed wheel 10, and thereafterthe folded blank is further manipulated in any suitable fashion to makeit into a bag, for example the lateral margins are welded together bymeans of pairs of heat sealing jaws 23, 24 which are provided atsuccessive individual stations.

At a further station, following the feed wheel 10 in a horizontal plane,a transfer wheel 26 equipped with a number of grippers 25 takes over thefinished, but still open, bag at the bottom of the latter, and transfersit by suitable means to a filling wheel 3t! so that this bag is held inupright position on this Wheel 30. The aforesaid transfer wheel 26 isnot necessary in every case because the bag produced on the feed wheel10 could be transferred directly from the latter to the filling wheel30, where these are appropriately mutually associated.

The filling wheel 35 turns intermittently about a vertical axis, thebags being held by means of grippers 31 at the lateral margins thereof,and being fed successivelly to a filling device to introduce the fillingmaterial into the bags via one of the funnels which can be raised andlowered by appropriate operating means.

The filled bags are then transferred in suitable fashion to acell-provided wheel 3r: associated with which is a awaees ample of thelabel, ticket or tag type, via suspension threads to the bags.

Associated with the cell wheel 36, for collecting in groups of specifiednumbers of bags, is a stacking wheel 41 which is rotatable about avertical axis, and this wheel 1 is indexed on each time a pro-set numberof bags has been accommodated in one of the radial compartments withwhich it is provided. The bags stacked in this way are pushed out of thecompartments of the wheel 41 in suitable fashion at a further station.

In accordance with the form of construction shown in FIGURE 1, themachine is suitable for the manufacture of small flat bags with a bottomfold, with or without the front and rear sides having two longitudinalfolds each as shown for the bag B of FIGURE 4.

If it is desired to put such longitudinal folds in the sides of the bagsbeing made, folding bars 43 and 44 (FIG- URE 2) may be arranged betweenthe guide roller 4 and the two pulling rollers 5, 6. The folding bars 43and 44 apply to the fiat web material 1, in its longitudinal direction,two Z-shaped folds by cooperating with a sheet metal folder 42,

The drive of the pair of pulling rollers 5, 6 and of the pair of rollers7, 8 is derived from a vertical steering or drive shaft 50 (FIGURES 1and 6) by way of a pair of bevel gears 51. 52. (For convenience ofillustration, and as conventional, the elements in front of and behindcasing 49 in FIGURE 1 are respectively shown in full and broken lines inboth FIGURES l and 6.) Bevel gear 52 is firmly connected with a spurwheel 53, which continuously drives engaging cog wheels 54-57. Cog wheel57 is secured to a cog wheel 58 for driving a cog wheel 59 which isfirmly connected with the pulling roller 5. This results in a continuousconveying operation of the stretch of raw material 1.

A so-called knee-gear-drive is provided in FIGURE 6 for the intermittentdrive of the pair of rollers 7, 8. This knee-drive-gear consists of cogwheels 619-63, of which the wheel 60 is fixed eccentrically on cog wheel54, while wheels 61, 62, and 63 are rotatably arranged on respectivepoints of a triangular rocking arm 64, which pivots about the axis ofwheel 63 and connects to the'eccentric point of the cog wheel 54 by wayof a couple 65. The cog wheel 63 is firmly connected with a cog wheel66, which continuously engages a cog wheel 67, the latter being firmlyconnected with the roller 7. While its eccentric point moves upwardduring clockwise rotation of wheel 54, wheel 62 tends to turn wheel 63counterclockwise but 'does not since arm 64 is pivoting counterclockwiseat a rate sufiicient to prevent wheel 63 from turning then. However,during the next half revolution of wheel 54, arm 65 is pulled downwardso that the resultant downward movement of an arm 64 and simultaneousclockwise rotation of wheel 62 causes a step rotation of roller 7.

As previously indicated, in order to cut to length the blanks forthesmall bags off the stretch of raw material 1, a cutting device isprovided below the pair of rollers 7, 8. This cutting device includes aknife block 13, which is firmly arranged on the machine case 49 andwhich has a slit through which passes the stretch of raw material 1; italso has a knife 14 which can be reciprocated. During every stoppage ofthe lower end of web 1, knife 14 is reciprocated so that one blank isseparated from the length of raw material 1. T effect properly timedreciprocation, knife 14 is flexibly connected with a pivoted camfollower lever 71 (FIGURE 6) by means of a couple 70. Lever 71 isoperated by a cam disk 72, which is firmly connected with a cog wheel 73that engages the cog wheel 54.

The retaining grippers or holding clamps 12 radially ar ranged on therespective arms of feed wheel 10, in conjunction with an oscillatingslide 15, serve to fold the bottom of the bags. Immediately after eachcut, this oscillating slide drives the bag blank into the holding clamp12 that stands ready below the cutting device 13, 14. The blank isthereby folded transversely, more or less at its longitudinal center. Inorder to obtain a W-shaped bottom fold, the oscillating slide 15 has twothin folding swords or blades 16, 17; furthermore there is provided afolding tongue 18 (FIGURE 8) in the mouth of each gripper or clamp 12.When folding the bag blank, this folding tongue 13 moves between the twothin folding swords 16, 17.

The oscillating motion of slide 15 is caused by a universal joint gear.Part of the latter includes a cog wheel 74 (FIGURE 6) which is driven bythe cog Wheel 73. A driving rod '75 is eccentrically arranged on cogwheel '74, and the driving rod 75 can be rotated. Furthermore, drivingrod 75 is made adjustable inside a block 76 which is located inside themachine case 49 and which can be rotated; the driving rod 75 is flexiblyconnected with a rocking arm 78, which can be oscillated; the connectionis made by means of a couple 77. At the pivot point of arm 78, thelatter is firmly connected with a lever 79, which rotatably carriesoscillating slide 15. At its outer end, slide 15 is provided with aroller 80, which runs in a curved groove 81 for guiding the oscillatingslide 15.

The blank which has been driven into a holding clamp 12 and therebyfolded on its bottom into a W-shape is then successively fed into twosets of sealing tools 23 and 24- (FIGURE-S 1 and 7). The retention ofthe folded blanks in clamps 12 while the oscillating slide 15 isswinging back and thereafter during their counterclockwise transport iseffected by two shims 19 (FIGURE 8) which are pivoted on each holdingclamp 12. These shims 19 have barb-like edges 35 facing the foldingtongue 18. By means of pressure exerted by leaf springs 21) upon shims19, these edges 85 press the blank against the metal folder 18, firmlyattaching it there. In order to release a blank, shims 19 are rocked.For this purpose they are provided with noses 86 which run against afixed buffer 87 (FIG- URE '7) when clamp 12 enters the delivery station.In this instance the shims 15 are pivoted in such a manner that theiredges 85 lose contact with the bag.

The clamps 12, of which there are always two per station, are attachedon slotted arms 90 (FIGURE 9) which in turn are attached with screws 91to the conveying wheel 10. The conveyor wheel 10 itself is secured to ashaft 92, which is located in the machine case 49 and which can berotated around a horizontal axis. In order to step the conveying wheel10 in such a manner that the clamps 12 are fed into the various stationsone after the other and step by step, several peripheral rollers 93,corresponding I in number to the number of clamps 12, are arranged onthe shaft 92 in equal intervals. In part of their orbit, these rolls 93are steered in and by the curved grooves of a continuously rotatingcylinder 94 in such a manner that the conveying wheel 10 performs anintermittent rotation with proper timing.

Two hot sealing installations 23 and 24 are arranged on r the orbit ofthe clamps 12 of the conveying wheel; the

their orbit.

folded blanks are fed to these hot sealing installations one after theother, in order to have their edges sealed together by heat. Toguarantee perfect guidance of the folded blanks during their fulltransport, two pairs of S-shaped guiding wires 95, 96 (FIGURE 7) arearranged firmly in Each of the hot sealing installations 23 and 24 shownin FIGURES 1, 7 and 11, includes two pairs of curved cheeks 101, 102 and103, 104, which can be heated; each cheek is attached to a respectiveone of shafts 105-108, which can be rocked. The shafts 105-108 areencased. in a support 109 which is firmly attached to the machine case49. A cam disk 110 steers the cheeks 101-104 in such a manner that theyare moved against the lateral edges of the blanks for hot sealing; thusthe parts of the edges of the blank lying on top of each other andconsisting of the raw material for the small bags, the latter beingcapable of being sealed by heat, are connected to each other by theeffect of pressure and heat.

The steering motion of cam disk 110 is transferred to the heat sealingcheeks 101-404 via a cam following push rod 111 and a lever 112 securedto rotate shaft 108. The heat sealing cheek pairs 101, 102 and 103, 104are shown in FIGURE 11 in their sealing positions. As cam disk 110rotates so that the roller on rod 111 is in a valley between two lobes117, lever 112 rotates shaft 108 clockwise. Levers 113 and 114 arerespectively fixed to shafts 1G8 and 197, and engage each other by meansof a peg and slit. Clockwise rotation of shaft 193 rotates cheek 104 inthe same direction, and lever 113 pushes up on the peg of lever 114 torotate shaft 107 counterclockwise, moving cheek 103 leftward. The motionof the first pair of cheeks 103, 1114 is transferred to the other pairof cheeks 101, 102 by means of two peg-to-slit connected levers 115, 116respectively fixed to rotate with shafts 108 and 106.

Cam disk 119 has altogether four, equally spaced lobes 117 thus the twocam followers 111 respectively of the two hot sealing installations 23and 24, the latter being displaced in relation to each other by 90degrees, are in contact with the cam disk 110, both being simultaneouslydisplaced. The number of revolutions is therefore reduced in relation tothe speed of rotation of the vertical steering shaft 59 of the machinein the ratio 4:1 by bevel gearing 119, 1213. One of the bevel gears 120is firmly connected with the cam disk 110.

After sealing the rims of the small bags, they are fed by the conveyingwheel 16 to an intermediate conveying or transfer wheel 26 (FIGURES 1and 7) which is intermittently rotated. Its periphery is provided with aplurality of clamps 25. Conveying wheels and 26 are both in the sameplane.

Each of the clamps 25 includes a pivotable finger 252 which moves in apath between the arms of grippers 12 while open relative to a stationaryfinger 251, but then closes to rest on the front side of the stationaryfinger 251 because of the eifects of a spring 130 (FIGURE 10), thusgrasping one bag at its bottom end. Finger 252 rotates with a bolt orshaft 131 disposed in a bearing 134 attached to the conveying wheel 26.At its other end, bolt 131 is rotatably controlled by a lever 132 towhich is attached a roll or cam follower 133. To open the clamp bypivoting finger 252, the roll 133 runs up to the elevated part of afixed curve ring or cam 138, which is secured to case 49.

As shown in FIGURE 10, and in a manner similar to the intermittentrotational mount for conveying wheel 10, the intermediate conveyingwheel 26 too is attached to a respective shaft 135 which is rotatablylocated in the machine case 49. At its periphery, this shaft carrieseight rollers 136 (FIGURE 7) which enter into the curved grooves of acylinder 137 for causing an intermittent drive of wheel 26.

Spacedly attached on a horizontal steering shaft 118 are the groovedcylinders 94 and 137 for the intermittent rotation respectively of thefeed wheel 19 and intermediate conveying wheel 26. Steering shaft 11%rotates continuously, and is driven by a main shaft 140 (FIGURE 1) i ofthe machine by way of four cog wheels 141-144. The horizontal shaft 118drives the vertical shaft 50 by way of a pair of bevel gears 145, 146.Main shaft 14-0 is driven by an electric motor 147 by way of a belttransmission 148 and a pair of spur wheels .151.

The intermediate conveying wheel 26 conveys the finished bags B, theirbottom ahead, in a semicircular arc to a filling wheel 34) (FIGURE 1)which rotates around a vertical axle; at this time, the mouth of thesmall bag faces upward. On its circumference, the filling wheel 30 hasin equal intervals several pairs of opposing face clamps 31 (see alsoFIGURES 12 and 13), which receive bags B at station A adjacent theintermediate conveying wheel 26; they do this by seizing the bag inquestion at its lateral sealed edges (FIGURE 12). For this purpose,clamps 31 include clamp parts or stationary thumbs 160, 161

carrying movably attached fingers or grip parts 162, 163,

which, by means of a spring 164, are urged against the 6 The grip parts162, 163 are connected with a two-throw crank 169 by way of links 166,167; the two-throw crank is secured to the top of a bolt or shaft 168rotatably .rnounted in the filling wheel 30. For operating the twothrowcrank 169 in order to open and close the clamps 31,

a lever 170, with a cam roller 171 attached to its outer end, is fixedto the bottom end of shaft 168. Roller 171 runs on the large diameterfixed curve ring or cam 172 when the filling wheel 39 is rotating.

As a set of clamps 31 enters the receiving station A, the roller 171that is associated with that clamp set is running on the elevatedsurface of cam 172, thereby setting crank 169 to its furthermostcounterclockwise position and pivoting the gripping fingers outwardly,whereby each of the clamps in the set is open. When the filling wheel 30stops rotating, the open clamps at station A receive a bag from abovefrom the transfer wheel 26. Until the proper clamping time, these clampsare hold open, not by cam 172 .now since its elevated surface recessedinwardly, but by cam173 since roller 171 of lever now rests on theelevated part of the continuously rotating cam disk 173. That elevatedpart of rotating disk 173 reduces at the proper time to cause roller 171to drop onto the recessed surface of cam 172 so that the grippingfingers 162, 163 of the clamps 31 are moved simultaneously toward therespective thumbs 160, 161, thereby grasping the small bag B While thefilling wheel 30 remains stopped.

The bags are received by the filling wheel 30 with their mouthsgenerally or mostly closed. In order to open them, the clamps 31 aredisposed on the filling wheel 30 so that they can be reciprocally spreadby means of pivots 174. In the case where the bags B have been providedwith longitudinal folds in their front and rear sides, they are openedby moving the corresponding pairs of clamps 31 awayfrom each other. Thisis done by twisting or rotating a double cam disk 175 by furtherrotation of shaft 168, to press apart the corresponding clamp parts 160,161 contrary to the eifect of springs 1'76. This further rotation ofshaft 168 occurs during the stepping rotation of the filling wheel inthe direction of arrow C, away from station A, and is due to theradially inward move-' ment of cam roller 171 on the decreasing diametersurface of earn 172. This pulls the bag open, substantially into arectangle as shown, without opening either of the clamps 31 in the setconcerned since their spread is compensated for by the further rotationof crank 169 with shaft 163.

The filling of the small bags B is performed while they traverse thefrontal semi-circle of the filling wheel 30. First, for this purpose,the filling funnels 189 (FIGURES 1, 12, 13) are lowered into theopenings of the small bags B. By means of two levers 131, 182, thesefunnels ing measuring holes 191 respectively lying over the fillingfunnels 181}. These holes are filled from a filling box 192 during thepassage of the semicircle opposite the filling semicircle. At this time,a fixed arc-shaped piece of sheet metal 193 covers the lower openings ofthe holes 191. Plate 190 is attached to collar and circulates step bystep with the filling funnels 130 and the filling wheel. Shaft 1S4,supported in a vertical bearing 195, is

rotated step by step by way of a roller drive including a curve-groovedcylinder 197 and a disk 198 which is provided with rollers 196 forriding in the curved grooves of cylinder 197 which is rotated by themain shaft 140.

As a filled bag approaches the delivery station D in 7 FIGURE 12, funnel134 is pulled out of the mouth of the bag by cam action between elements136 and 187 at that point. Thereafter, clamps 31 are again reciprocallymoved, and finally the filled bag is transferred in the delivery stationD into a closing and finishing Wheel 36 (FIGURE 1) by opening the gripparts 162 and 163. For this purpose, first of all, roller 171 on the camfollowing lever 170 runs to a slightly elevated part of the curve ring172 and finally makes contact with a cam disk 1%, and while the fillingwheel 30 is not in motion, the rotating cam disk 199 elevates thecorresponding lever 179 further, so that clamps 31 open. Cam disk 199has a shape similar to the clamp closing cam disk 173.

Main shaft 146 of the machine supplies the drive for the twocontinuously rotated cam disks 173 and 199, which make one full rotationfor each step of the filling wheel. For this purpose, each of the camdisks 173 and 199, which are supported by a solid plate 25% are firmlyconnected with a cog wheel 291, 2 132. The two cog wheels 201, 262engage a cog wheel 203, which is supported by vertical bearing 1E5. Thiscog wheel-2G3 is driven by a cog wheel 204 disposed at the top end of avertical shaft 295, which is driven by the main shaft 140 via bevelgears 2%, 267.

Now, the filled small bags which have been conveyed to the bucket wheel36 are closed and provided with tags and suspension thread. The tags aretaken from a stack in magazine 37 by means of a conveying wheel 39 whichrotates in a vertical plane and, in known fashion, they are attachedwith a thread unwound from spool 38. The thread is attached to the headsof the bags contained in the bucket or cell wheel 36 by means of knowntools 4%); one piece of thread with one tag is attached to one bag.

In order to collect a certain number of bags, bucket wheel 35 isfollowed by a stacking wheel 41, which can be rotated around a verticalaxis and which is indexed further after having collected in one of itsradially arranged chambers a predetermined number of small bags. Thebags which have been stacked in this manner are discharged in anadditional station in a suitable manner from the chambers of thestacking wheel 41.

For the manufacture of bags on this machine, a web material can beprocessed which has on its inner side a layer capable of being hotsealed, or a material having a layer capable of being hot sealed on itsrims only, or a material being free of glue; In the latter case, adevice 59' (FIGURE 1) for applying the molten adhesive to the web edges,or other area where the seam is later to be made, is provided betweenthe diverting rolls 3 and 4.

Depending on the use of certain tools, this machine is capable ofmanufacturing in a simple manner single compartment bags or, accordingto FIGURE 5, also double compartment bags, either with V- or W-shapedbottom folds. For FIGURE '5 type bags, use is made of folding bars 45,46 (FIGURE 3) for the formation of a tube and of tool 47 for the closingof the longitudinal seam of the tube. In this case, no rim-sealing ofthe bags would occur, and the intermediate conveying wheel 26 of .themachine may be omitted, the conveying wheel and filling Wheel 34) beingso arranged that the former delivers folded bags directly into thelatter.

When manufacturing bags with V-shaped bottom folds, the folding tongue18 of each holding clamp 12 of the conveying wheel 16, as well as thefolding blades 16 and 17 of the oscillating slide 15, are removed andreplaced by a single foldingblade extending from slide 15.

Thus, it is apparent there has been disclosed a bag making machineaccomplishing the objects of this invention and having all itsadvantages. Those of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate afterreading this disclosure that other objects and advantages may beaccomplished by the invention and that the invention may be differentlyembodied than specifically disclosed herein without depart ing from thescope of the invention. Therefore, the embodiments described are to beconsidered illustrative and 8 not limitative, with the invention beingdefined by the following claims.

What is claimed is: 1. A machine for manufacturing bags with foldedbottoms comprising means for feeding a continuous web 'of material fromwhich said bags are to be made, rotatable means having a plurality ofgripper devices successively movable to a position adjacent the path ofsaid web, means for severing said web at desired length each time theWeb is adjacent a gripper device in said position, means cooperable withany said gripper device in Said position for folding the adjacentsevered length of Web transversely between its ends into a predeterminedbag bottorn fold, and means for closing the severed and folded W-shapedbag bottom fold.

3. A machine as in claim 1 wherein said shims have noses, there beingbuffer means for contacting SElId noses at a predetermined bag deliverypoint to pivot said shims and release the folded bag held thereby.

4. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprising meansfor feeding a continuous web of material from which said bags are to bemade, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successivelymovable to a position adjacent the path of said web, means for severingsaid web at desired length each time the web is adjacent a gripperdevice in said position, means cooperable with any said gripper devicein said position for folding the adjacent severed length of webtransversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, andmeans for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby afolded bottom, open top bag may be produced, wherein said rotatablemeans is a 'feed wheel intermittently rotatable about a horizontal axis,said machine further including a filling wheel intermittently rotatableabout a vertical axis and having a plurality of bag clamping devices,means for transferring bags in turn from said feed wheel gripper devicesrespectively to said clamping devices mouth-uppermost, and means forfilling the bags while grasped by said filling wheel clamping device.

5. A machine as in claim 4 and further including a finishing wheelrotatable about a horizontal axis and disposed to receive filled bagsfrom said filling wheel respectively in successive cells around theperiphery of the finishing wheel, and means cooperating with thefinishing Wheel to apply tags and suspension threads to the bags in ,thecells thereof respectively.

6..A machine as in claim 5 and further including a stacking wheelrotatable about a vertical axis adjacent the finishing wheel andpositioned to receive finished bags delivered from the cells of thefinishing wheel as a result of its rotation, said stacking wheel beingintermittently rotatable in timed relation so as to carry off apredetermined stack of bags at each rotational step.

7. A machine as in claim 4 in which said transferring means includes atransfer Wheel having a plurality of holding devices and intermittentlyrotatable about a horizontal axis in substantially the same plane assaid feed wheel, said transfer Wheel being disposed between the saidfeed and filling wheels to transfer the folded bags from the former tothe latter.

8. A machine as in claim 4 including means operatively connected witheach of said filling Wheel clamping devices to open the mouths of thebags held thereby be fore filling of the bags.

9. A machine as in claim 4 wherein said filling means includes at leastone funnel and means for lowering and raising the funnel into and out ofthe mouth of a bag held by one of said clamping devices.

1%. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprisingmeans for feeding a continuous Web of material from which said bags areto be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devicessuccessively movable to a position adjacent the path of said web, meansfor severing said web at desired length each time the web is adjacent agripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripperdevice in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of webtransversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, andmeans for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby afolded bottom, open top bag may be produced, including means in the pathof said web for folding the web longitudinally into two connectedZ-shaped folds.

11. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprisingmeans for feeding a continuous web of material from which said bags areto be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devicessuccessively movable to a position adjacent the path of said web, meansfor severing said web at desired length each time the Web is adjacent agripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripperdevice in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of webtransversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, andmeans for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby afolded bottom, open top bag may be produced, wherein said feeding androtatable means are each intermittently operated in timed relation topresent said desired length of Web repeatedly to the severing meansrespectively adjacent said gripper devices successively, said foldingmeans being timed with the feeding and rotatable and severing means toeffect the said fold while the rotatable means is stopped.

12. A machine as in claim 11 for making a double compartment bag,wherein said closing means folds the Web over onto itself into tubeshape.

13. A machine as in claim 11 wherein the said closing means seals thelateral margins of the severed folded web together to form side seams.

14. A machine as in claim 11 for use with a web which is initially instrip form and sealable in given areas to itself by heat and pressure,said closing means including means disposed adjacent said rotatablemeans for applying heat and pressure to said given areas tolongitudinally seal a folded bag held by a said gripper device.

15. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprisingmeans for feeding a continuous web of material from which said bags areto be made, rotatable means having a plurality of gripper devicessuccessively movable to a position adjacent the path of said Web, meansfor severing said web at desired length each time the web is adjacent agripper device in said position, means cooperable with any said gripperdevice in said position for folding the adjacent severed length of Webtransversely between its ends into a predetermined bag bottom fold, andmeans for closing the severed and folded web longitudinally, whereby afolded bottom, open top bag may be produced, wherein said feeding meansincludes a first roller for drawing said Web at a substantially constantrate and a second roller downstream from said first roller for feedingsaid web to said severing means intermittently, the means for drivingsaid second roller intermittently including a first gear movable atconstant angular speed, a second gear fixed to said first geareccentrically, third, fourth and fifth gears engaged with each othersequentiallywith the third gear being driven by said second gear andsaid fifth gear being coupled to drive said second roller, the axis ofsaid fifth gear being fixed but the axes of said third and fourth gearsbeing movable and connected with the axis of the fifth gear by a memberfixing the third, fourth and fifth gears in a triangular relationship,the axis of said third gear being linked to the axis of said secondgear, whereby constant rate rotation of the said first gear causes norotation of said fifth gear during one-half its cycle but does duringthe other half of its cycle.

16. A machine for manufacturing bags with folded bottoms comprisingrotatable means having a plurality of gripper devices successivelymovable to a predetermined position, means for feeding a continuous webof material from which said bags are to be made to said positionradially of said rotatable means, means for severing said web at desiredlength each time the web is adjacent a gripper device in said position,means cooperable with any said gripper device in said position forfolding the adjacent severed length of web transversely into apredetermined bottom fold between the resulting two sides of the bag,means for intermittently rotating said rotatable means to cause saidgripper devices to transport their respective severed and folded baglongitudinally tangential of the rotatable means, and means adjacent therotatable means for guiding the said bag sides close together whilebeing transported as aforesaid. 17. A machine as in claim 16 whereinsaid gripper degiggs grasp and carry a folded bag only at its saidbottom References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS Re. 20,88110/38 Rambold 53-134 X 2,014,497 9/35 Haskell 9313 2,058,501 10/36Potdevin 93--13 2,649,674 8/53 Bartelt 53-186 X FOREIGN PATENTS 593,2482/60 Canada.

FRANK E. BAILEY, Primary Examiner.

TRAVIS S. MCGEHEE, Examiner.

1. A MACHINE FOR MANUFACTURING BAGS WITH FOLDED BOTTOMS COMPRISING MEANSFOR FEEDING A CONTINUOUS WEB OF MATERIAL FROM WHICH SAID BAGS ARE TO BEMADE, ROTATABLE MEANS HAVING A PLURALITY OF GRIPPER DEVICES SUCCESSIVELYMOVABLE TO A POSITION ADJACENT THE PATH OF SAID WEB, MEANS FOR SEVERINGSAID WEB AT DESIRED IN SAID POSITION, TIME THE WEB IS ADJACENT A GRIPPERDEVICE IN SAID POSITION, MEANS COOPERABLE WITH ANY SAID GRIPPER DEVICEIN SAID POSITION FOR FOLDING THE ADJACENT SEVERED LENGTH OF WEBTRANSVERSELY BETWEEN ITS ENDS INTO A PREDETERMINED BAG BOTTOM FOLD, ANDMEANS FOR CLOSING THE SEVERED AND FOLDED WEB LONGITUDINALLY, WHEREBY AFOLDED BOTTOM, OPEN TOP BAG MAY BE PRODUCED, WHEREIN EACH OF SAIDGRIPPER DE-